I rather liked this show, definitely more than "The Apprentice," which seems to be getting weaker by the episode. Perhaps it's because I see nothing to admire in Donald Trump. Branson at least gives the impression of being more real and much more interesting. I liked how he stressed the importance of being courteous to everyone, such as the "cab driver." Trump appears to respect no one.

I was interested in this show until after the first stunt when I realized that the spiked-hair moron who was chosen as the 'leader' was safe from elimination simply because he was able to cross on the beam without hitting the guide wires. In the first half hour of the show he proved himself to be an incapable leader who I have no respect for at all. If he was a real leader he would have gone last and let Sara be one of the first across. As the saying goes, a team is only as strong as its weakest member so thats why you support and encourage your weak players rather than making sure you're the first person to be safe.

But...having said that, I guess this is the business world where leaders, no matter how imcompetent, dont have to pay for their own ineptness, rather they just let the crap roll downhill and fire a scapegoat. *sigh* Now I've depressed myself about the state of our society.

I rather liked this show, definitely more than "The Apprentice," which seems to be getting weaker by the episode. Perhaps it's because I see nothing to admire in Donald Trump. Branson at least gives the impression of being more real and much more interesting. I liked how he stressed the importance of being courteous to everyone, such as the "cab driver." Trump appears to respect no one.

I will give this show a chance.

In total agreement, Florimel!

I have to say that I really enjoyed this show! I find Richard Branson very genuine. I know that I would like him if I ever met him. I am not crazy for the stunts....no adrenaline junkie here.......BUT...I love Amazing Race and all the wild tasks they have to do, so here is another similar type of thing. The Apprentice has been a disappointment to me this season (for many reasons), so it is refreshing to see someone with Branson's charisma on my television.

I'll continue to watch. Branson's much more down-to-earth than Trump. Can you imagine one of The Donald's teams not following his suggestion to go see the giant Budda? He would have fired them all! And the challenges are pretty neat. I bet they won't have one single stunt that I would even dare to attempt.

Branson at least gives the impression of being more real and much more interesting. I liked how he stressed the importance of being courteous to everyone, such as the "cab driver." Trump appears to respect no one.

I got the feeling that Branson is a genuine nice guy. Not like The Donald who thinks he's on some kind of pedestal. Didn't like Mark Cuban that much either.

I'm definitely watching it next week, mostly because of the exotic locations, crazy (but scary) stunts, and a likeable benefactor.

I just hoped that no one got hurt doing those crazy stunts, but the previews showed someone getting hurt. I think it was Candita.

Several have mentioned that they do not know what the stunts have to do with running a business. Well if it was just anyones business I would think the same. However, if you think about it....Richard Branson is an adventurer. The whole premise to his business is to have fun. Why wouldn't he want someone who was willing to go do krazi stunts with him or want someone to at least have the type of integrity he has to run his business. Everyone is trainable....it's the ethics, personality, integrity and the treatment of the individual that makes the greatest employees.

If he was a real leader he would have gone last and let Sara be one of the first across.

But what about "leadership by example"?

Originally Posted by ICantLookAway

As the saying goes, a team is only as strong as its weakest member so thats why you support and encourage your weak players rather than making sure you're the first person to be safe.

A team is only as strong as it's weakest member, that's why you should always figure out who that is and have them killed*. The situation is setup such that someone is going to be cut from the team, part of the leader's job is determining who is the weakest member of the team and position them to be cut.

This is actually quite an interesting scenario for discussion. If he sends Sara first and she freezes (which would be a real possibility) then they all fail, if he sends her last and then if she freezes her failure doesn't harm anyone else. This wasn't really set up as a team success or failure scenario though, if you want to promote/test teamwork you have a "stunt" where everybody has to succeed for the team to succeed. An example would be on an obstacle course, you run it as a team and your team time is the time of the slowest member.

This setup basically asked the question, do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one? I liked what the leader-guy did, he went first to determine how scary and how difficult it was going to be and made his determination on whether to let Sara go next based on that.

Leaders lead, followers follow. He led, he blazed the trail -- that's what he should have done.